Refrigerator

ABSTRACT

A refrigerator capable of adjusting a discharge position and a quantity of cold air discharged into the refrigerator. The refrigerator includes an inner panel installed at a rear surface of a storage chamber and having cold air outlets for forming a cooling channel. The refrigerator also includes a variable duct installed at one of the cold air outlets such that the variable duct can move back and forth to vary a length of the cooling channel, and a plurality of cold air distribution holes formed in the variable duct.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2004-79623, filed Oct. 6, 2004, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator, having a cooling channel which is varied to uniformly distribute cold air into a storage chamber.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, a refrigerator includes a cooling channel provided at a rear portion of an inside of a storage chamber to circulate cold air into the storage chamber, an air blast fan installed in the cooling channel, and an evaporator installed in the cooling channel to cool the circulated air. The refrigerator further includes a plurality of cold air outlets formed through a rear surface of the storage chamber such that the cold air outlets are separated from each other and communicate with the cooling channel to distribute the cold air into the storage chamber. When the air blast fan of the refrigerator is operated, the air in the storage chamber, sucked into the cooling channel, is cooled by the evaporator, and is supplied again to the inside of the storage chamber through the cold air outlets, thereby cooling the inside of the storage chamber.

The inside of the storage chamber of the above refrigerator is divided by a plurality of racks, and positions of the cold air outlets are fixed to supply the cold air to spaces between the individual racks, when the quantities of goods stored on the racks differ from each other or the cold air outlets are covered with the stored goods, a difference of temperatures between the spaces, between the racks in the storage chamber is generated, thereby making it difficult to uniformly cool the storage chamber.

In order to solve the above problem, Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 1999-017349 (published on Mar. 15, 1999) discloses a refrigerator having a cold air distributing device. Since the cold air distributing device of the above refrigerator includes a driving motor and a driving cam to adjust a direction of distributed cold air, the refrigerator has a complicated configuration, thereby requiring high production costs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a refrigerator, in which a discharge position and quantity of cold air are adjusted, thereby facilitating uniform distribution of the cold air into a storage chamber and having a simple configuration.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

The foregoing and/or other aspects, of the present invention are achieved by providing a refrigerator including an inner panel installed at a rear surface of a storage chamber having cold air outlets for forming a cooling channel, a variable duct installed at one of the cold air outlets such that the variable duct can move back and forth to vary the length of the cooling channel, and a plurality of cold air distribution holes formed through the variable duct.

The inner panel may include a plurality of the cold air outlets communicating with the cooling channel, and the variable duct may be installed at the uppermost cold air outlet out of the plurality of cold air outlets such that the variable duct can move back and forth.

The inner panel may further include an extended portion extended forwards from the uppermost cold air outlet, and the variable duct may move back and forth under the condition that an opened rear end of the variable duct enters into the inside of the extended portion.

Moreover, the variable duct may include a rectilinear portion having an outer width at a rear end thereof corresponding to the inner width of the extended portion, wherein the rectilinear portion moves back and forth along the inner surface of the extended portion, and a width-decreasing portion having side surfaces inclined such that an inner width of the width-decreasing portion is decreased from the rectilinear portion to the front part thereof.

The cold air distribution holes may be formed through the side surfaces of the width-decreasing portion and the front end of the variable duct.

The refrigerator may further include a channel adjusting device, which is installed in the variable duct and interacts with an operation of the variable duct to vary the cross sectional area of a channel in the variable duct by the movement of the variable duct.

Further, The channel adjusting device may increase a width of the channel in the variable duct when the variable duct is pulled forward to increase a length of the cooling channel, and decrease the width of the channel in the variable duct when the variable duct is pushed backwards to decrease the length of the cooling channel.

The channel adjusting device may include first and second guide members, respectively including front end portions rotatably connected with a front end of an inside of the variable duct and rear end portions rotatably connected with the inner panel. The first and second guide members, respectively having refractive members between the front end portions and the rear end portions, wherein the first and second air guide members have a width corresponding to the width of the variable duct.

Further, the rear end portions of the first and second air guide members may be connected with each other by a support pin fixed to the inner panel such that the rear end portions of the first and second air guide members are bent from each other.

Moreover, protrusions may be installed between the first and second air guide members in the variable duct, to prevent the first and second air guide members from being constricted toward a central portion of the variable duct.

The first and second air guide members may respectively include a front guide portion and a rear guide portion, which are connected such that each of the rear guide portions and the corresponding one of the front guide portions are bent from each other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a refrigerator in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a variable duct and a channel adjusting device of the refrigerator of FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the variable duct and the channel adjusting device of the refrigerator of FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, in a state in which the variable duct is pushed backwards; and

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the variable duct and the channel adjusting device of the refrigerator of FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, in a state in which the variable duct is pulled forward and extended.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiment of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

In FIG. 1, a refrigerator in accordance with the present invention comprises a main body 10 having a storage chamber 11 installed therein, and a door 12 rotatably installed on a front surface of the main body 10 to open and close the opened front surface of the storage chamber 11. Racks 13 a and 13 b and a plurality of containers 14 a, 14 b, and 14 c are installed in the storage chamber 11, to collect goods to be stored, and a plurality of door pockets 15 are installed on an inner surface of the door 12, to collect goods to be stored.

An inner panel 17 to form a cooling channel 16 is installed on a rear surface of an inside of the storage chamber 11 such that the inner panel 17 is separated from the rear wall of the main body 10 by a designated interval, and an evaporator 18 to cool air circulated through the cooling channel 16 and an air blast fan 19 to forcibly circulate the air into the storage chamber 11 through the cooling channel 16, are installed in the inner panel 17. An inlet 20, to suction the air of the inside of the storage chamber 11 into the cooking channel 16 when the air blast fan 16 is operated, is formed through the lower part of the inner panel 17, and a plurality of cold air outlets 21 a, 21 b, and 21 c, to discharge the air cooled by the evaporator 18 to the inside of the storage chamber 10, is formed through the upper part of the inner panel 17.

The refrigerator of an embodiment of the present invention is configured such that a discharge position and a quantity of cold air are adjusted in consideration of quantities or positions of the storage goods in the storage chamber 11. Therefore, an extended portion 23 for extending the cooling channel 16 by a designated length is formed at the uppermost cold air outlet 21 a formed in the inner panel 17, and a variable duct 30, which moves back and forth in at designated length to vary a length of the cooling channel 16, is installed at the extended portion 23. A plurality of cold air distribution holes 33 to uniformly distribute the cold air is formed through the variable duct 30.

In FIG. 2, the variable duct 30 is a box-shaped duct including a rectilinear portion 31, formed at the rear end thereof, having an outer width corresponding to the inner width of the extended portion 23 such that the rectilinear portion 31 moves back and forth along the inner surface of the extended portion 23, and a width-decreasing portion 32 having side surfaces inclined such that an inner width of the width-decreasing portion 32 is gradually decreased from the rectilinear portion 31 to the front part of the variable duct 30. A rear end of the variable duct 30 is opened such that an inside of the variable duct 30 communicates with the cooling channel 16 in the extended portion 23, and the cold air distribution holes 33 are formed through the side surfaces of the width-decreasing portion 32 and the front end of the variable duct 30.

When a user moves the variable duct 30 back and forth to adjust the length of the cooling channel 16, the variable duct 30 varies the discharge position of the cold air supplied from the cold air distribution holes 33, to thereby control the supply of the cold air. Since the variable duct 30 has a structure such that the cross sectional area of the variable duct 30 is decreased from the rear part of the variable duct 30 to the front part of the variable duct 30, even when the cooling channel 16 is extended, the speed of the cold air discharged from the cold air distribution holes 33 is not decreased so much. Further, since the cold air distribution holes 33 formed through the side surfaces of the variable duct 30 are separated from side surfaces of the storage chamber 11, the cold air is efficiently supplied to the inside of the storage chamber 11.

Since the variable duct 30 is installed at an upper portion of the storage chamber 11, it is possible to adjust the length of the cooling channel 16 without interfering with goods stored in the storage chamber 11, and since the cold air is distributed to the inside of the storage chamber 11 through the cold air distribution holes 33 placed at the upper portion of the storage chamber 11, the circulation of the cold air into the storage chamber 11 is facilitated. That is, convection, in which cold air descends and relatively warm air ascends, is uniformly achieved through all the area in the storage chamber 11, thereby minimizing a difference of temperatures in the storage chamber 11.

The refrigerator further comprises a channel adjusting device 40 to adjust the quantity of the cold air discharged through the cold air distribution holes 33 by increasing or decreasing the cross sectional area of a channel 50 (shown in FIG. 3) in the variable duct 30 based on the back or forth movement of the variable duct 30.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the channel adjusting device 40 includes a first air guide member 41 and a second air guide member 42, which are disposed in parallel at sides of the variable duct 30.

The first and second air guide members 41 and 42 respectively include front guide portions 41 a and 42 a and rear guide portions 41 b and 42 b, which are connected by refractive members 41 c and 42 c such that each of the rear guide portions 41 b and 42 b are refracted from the corresponding one of the front guide portions 41 a and 42 a. Front ends of the front guide portions 41 a and 42 a of the first and second air guide members 41 and 42 are rotatably connected with an inner front end of the variable duct 30, and rear ends of the rear guide portions 41 b and 42 b of the first and second air guide members 41 and 42 are rotatably connected with the extended portion 23 extended from the inner panel 17. Here, the rear ends of the rear guide portions 41 b and 42 b are fixedly connected with a support pin 44 fixed to the extended portion 23 such that the rear ends of the rear guide portions 41 b and 42 b are refracted from each other under the condition that the movement of the rear ends of the rear guide portions 41 b and 42 b is limited.

The first and second air guide members 41 and 42 comprise a width corresponding to a width of the variable duct 30 so that the first and second air guide members 41 and 42 guide the circulation of the air into the variable duct 30. A first protrusion 45 a and a second protrusion 45 b are installed at designated positions between the first and second air guide members 41 and 42 in the variable duct 30, to prevent the first and second air guide members 41 and 42 from being constricted to the central portion of the variable duct 30.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the user pushes the variable duct 30 backwards, the channel adjusting device 40 is refracted such that the refractive members 41 c and 42 c of the first and second air guide members 41 and 42 of the channel adjusting device 40 are close to inner surfaces of the variable duct 30, thereby obtaining a decreased width (W1) of the channel 50 in the variable duct 30. As shown in FIG. 4, when the user pulls the variable duct 30 forwards to extend the channel, the channel adjusting device 40 is stretched such that the refractive members 41 c and 42 c of the first and second air guide members 41 and 42 of the channel adjusting device 40 are distant from the inner surfaces of the variable duct 30, to thereby obtain an increased width (W2) of the channel 50 in the variable duct 30.

Hereinafter, an operation of the above-described refrigerator for circulating the cold air will be described in detail.

When the air blast fan 19 in the cooling channel 16 is operated, air in the storage chamber 11 is suctioned to a lower part of the evaporator 18 through the inlet 20 of the cooling channel 16. The air is cooled by the evaporator 18, and is then supplied again to the inside of the storage chamber 11 through the cold air outlets 21 a, 21 b, and 21 c, thereby cooling the storage chamber 11.

The air discharged from the uppermost cold air outlet 21 a is guided forward through the extended portion 23 and the variable duct 30, and is then discharged to the upper portion of the storage chamber 11 through the cold air distribution holes 33 formed through the variable duct 30.

When goods having a high heat load are stored at designated positions in the storage chamber 11 or air is not efficiently circulated into the storage chamber 11 due to goods stored therein, a user adjusts the position of the variable duct 30 to control the discharge position and discharge quantity of the cold air. Thereby, it is possible to uniformly cool the storage chamber 11 under the condition that a difference of temperatures of the inside of the storage chamber 11 is minimized without changing operating conditions of the air blast fan 19.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, when the user pushes the variable duct 30 backwards to decrease the length of the cooling channel 16, the positions of the cold air distribution holes 33 formed through the variable duct 30 are biased backwards so that the cold air supplied from the cold air distribution holes 33 is mainly directed to the rear portion of the storage chamber 11. Here, since the channel adjusting device 40 in the variable duct 30 decreases the width (W1) of the channel 50 in the variable duct 30, the quantity of the cold air discharged through the cold air distribution holes 33 is decreased. The reason is that the pressure of the cold air discharged through the cold air distribution holes 33 is lowered so that the cold air is mainly supplied to the rear portion of the storage chamber 11.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, when the user pulls the variable duct 30 forwards to increase the length of the cooling channel 16, the positions of the cold air distribution holes 33 formed through the variable duct 30 move forwards so that the cold air supplied from the cold air distribution holes 33 is mainly directed to the front portion of the storage chamber 11. Here, since the channel adjusting device 40 in the variable duct 30 increases the width (W2) of the channel 50 in the variable duct 30, the quantity of the cold air discharged through the cold air distribution holes 33 is increased. As described above, the refrigerator of the present invention moves the variable duct 30 back and forth to adjust the discharge position and quantity of the cold air, thereby properly controlling the circulation of the cold air in consideration of positions or heat loads of goods stored in the storage chamber 11.

As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a refrigerator, in which the discharge position of cold air is adjusted by moving a variable duct provided at an upper portion of a storage chamber back and forth, and the discharge quantity of the cold air is adjusted by the operation of a channel adjusting device linked with the operation of the variable duct, thereby facilitating uniform distribution of the cold air into the storage chamber and having a configuration simpler than that of a conventional refrigerator.

Although an embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents. 

1. A refrigerator comprising: an inner panel installed at a rear surface of the refrigerator including a plurality of cold air outlets, to form a cooling channel of the refrigerator; a variable duct installed at one of the cold air outlets such that the variable duct moves back and forth to vary a length of the cooling channel; and a plurality of cold air distribution holes formed in the variable duct.
 2. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein: the variable duct is installed at a cold air outlet of the cold air outlets formed at an upper portion of the storage chamber, such that the variable duct moves back and forth.
 3. The refrigerator of claim 2, wherein: the inner panel comprises an extended portion extended forward from the cold air outlet formed at the upper portion of the storage chamber; wherein an opened end of the variable duct enters an inside of the extended portion, to move back and forth therein.
 4. The refrigerator of claim 3, wherein the variable duct comprises: a rectilinear portion having an outer width at a rear end thereof corresponding to an inner width of the extended portion, wherein the rectilinear portion moves back and forth along the inner surface of the extended portion; and a width-decreasing portion having side surfaces inclined such that an inner width of the width-decreasing portion is decreased from the rectilinear portion to the front part of the variable duct.
 5. The refrigerator of claim 4, wherein cold air distribution holes are formed through the side surfaces of the width-decreasing portion and the front end of the variable duct.
 6. The refrigerator of claim 5, further comprising a channel adjusting device, which is installed in the variable duct and interacts with an operation of the variable duct to vary a cross sectional area of a channel in the variable duct by a back and forth movement of the variable duct.
 7. The refrigerator of claim 6, wherein the channel adjusting device increases a width of the channel in the variable duct when the variable duct is pulled forward to increase a length of the cooling channel, and decreases the width of the channel in the variable duct when the variable duct is pushed backwards to decrease the length of the cooling channel.
 8. The refrigerator of claim 7, wherein the channel adjusting device includes first and second air guide members, respectively provided with front ends rotatably connected with the front end of an inside of the variable duct and rear ends rotatably connected with the inner panel, the first and second air guide members respectively comprising refractive members between the front ends and the rear ends of the first and second air guide members.
 9. The refrigerator of claim 8, wherein the first and second air guide members comprise a width corresponding to a width of the variable duct, to guide a circulation of the air into the variable duct.
 10. The refrigerator of claim 8, further comprising a support pin, wherein the rear ends of the first and second air guide members are connected with each other by the support pin fixed to the inner panel such that the rear ends of the first and second air guide members are bent from each other.
 11. The refrigerator of claim 8, further comprising protrusions installed between the first and second air guide members in the variable duct, wherein the protrusions prevent the first and second air guide members from being constricted to a central portion of the variable duct.
 12. The refrigerator of claim 8, wherein the first and second air guide members respectively include a front guide portion and a rear guide portion connected such that each of the rear guide portions and the corresponding one of the front guide portions are bent from each other.
 13. A refrigerator having a storage chamber, comprising: a cooling channel at a rear surface of the storage chamber, to discharge cold air into the refrigerator; and a variable duct movably installed at an upper portion of the cooling channel, to vary a discharge position and a discharge quantity of the cool air discharged into the refrigerator, thereby controlling a supply of the cold air.
 14. The refrigerator of claim 13, wherein the cooling channel comprises an extended portion to extend the cooling channel by a designated length, when varying the discharge position and the discharge quantity of the cold air.
 15. The refrigerator of claim 14, wherein an interior of the variable duct forms a channel and an opened end of the variable duct is inserted into the extended portion, to allow the variable duct to move backward and forward therein.
 16. The refrigerator of claim 15, wherein the variable duct comprises a rectilinear portion at a rear portion thereof, the rectilinear portion having an outer width corresponding to an inner width of the extended portion, wherein the rectilinear portion of the variable duct moves backward and forward along an inner surface of the extended portion of the cooling channel, when varying the discharge position and the quantity of cold air discharged into the storage chamber.
 17. The refrigerator of claim 16, further comprising a channel adjusting device installed in the channel of the variable duct, to vary a cross sectional area of the channel in accordance with a movement of the variable duct.
 18. The refrigerator of claim 17, wherein the variable duct further comprises air distribution holes to discharge the cold air into the storage chamber.
 19. The refrigerator of claim 18, wherein the channel adjusting device comprises: first and second guide members having first end portions rotatably connected with a front inside portion of the variable duct and second end portions rotatably connected with the cooling channel.
 20. The refrigerator of claim 19, wherein when the variable duct moves in a backward direction toward the rear portion of the storage chamber, the channel adjusting device is refracted and a width of the channel in the variable duct decreases, thereby decreasing the discharge quantity of cold air discharged into a front portion of the storage chamber.
 21. The refrigerator of claim 20, wherein when the variable duct moves in a forward direction toward the front portion of the storage chamber, the channel adjusting device is stretched such that the width of the channel in the variable duct increases, thereby increasing the discharge quantity of cold air discharged into the front portion of the storage chamber.
 22. A refrigerator having a cooling channel, comprising: a variable duct movably connected with the cooling channel, to vary a length of the cooling channel and to thereby control a supply of cold air to be discharged into the refrigerator from the cooling channel. 